While using the lists as a tool and guide to select publishers and journals can be part of your routine when verifying a journal's legitimacy, it is more important to investigate fully and ask questions you'd like answered. It is always best to do your due diligence and thoroughly investigate potential publishers.
What can you do to protect yourself and make sure you have a wide audience for your work?
There are many red flags to look for in order to determine whether or not a journal could potentially fall under the predatory publishing category.
Before agreeing to or signing any contracts its always a good idea to dig a little deeper and give the situation its due diligence. Here are some tips and questions you might want to ask yourself:
Remember, most reputable journals will most likely include the following traits:
By following similar investigation steps you can also verify the legitimacy of conferences.
If you are unsure of the quality or legitimacy of a conference, begin by verifying if the conference is hosted by well-known organizations, professional, university, or government.
Typically, predatory conferences occur as one-offs, rather than annual events. If there are previous events, browse through the publications and lists of speakers to help you assess the quality. If you recognize any of the speakers do not hesitate to reach out to them and ask them questions directly.
If there is an option to publish your research in any journals associated with the conference, check whether the publication is indexed in any of the databases in your field and review previous articles for quality.